First Voyage closes a $2.5 million seed round to bring Momo Self Care, an AI-powered habit buddy, to life
In a landscape flooded with automatically generated content, a startup called First Voyage aims to cut through the noise by helping people form lasting habits with a dedicated AI companion. The company’s approach centers on an app called Momo Self Care, which presents a digital pet named Momo. By caring for Momo, users unlock reminders and incentives that support habit-building tasks.
Users can schedule alerts for the tasks they want to complete, and Momo will nudge them when it’s time. In a nod to popular productivity tools like Focus Friend, Momo also dispenses coins for finishing tasks. Those coins can be spent on in-app items to customize Momo’s appearance. Beyond reminders, users can chat with Momo about self-care, and the AI will suggest relevant habits and tasks aligned with their goals.
“Our aim is to help people become the best versions of themselves, and in return, users shower Momo with care, affection, and cute accessories,” said Besart Çopa, co-founder and CEO of First Voyage, in a conversation with TechCrunch.
This week, First Voyage announced a $2.5 million seed round from backers including a16z speedrun, SignalFire, True Global, and others.
Çopa noted that Momo’s users have already logged more than two million tasks on the platform. The most popular habit categories center on productivity, spirituality, and mindfulness.
As AI apps and “companions” continue to proliferate, some observers worry about potential downsides of increasingly intimate AI relationships, especially as wellness and self-care tools crowd the space alongside chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok.
Çopa remains optimistic about the trend, predicting that the share of AI-powered human relationships will grow in the coming years. He also believes that wellness-focused AI products are preferable to apps geared toward more problematic impulses.
At a TechCrunch event in San Francisco (October 13–15, 2026), Çopa highlighted a broader shift: more founders are pursuing AI-enabled wellness rather than entertainment-focused “waifus.” He suggested that AI’s personalization capabilities could elevate the impact of these interactions while preserving safety through built-in guardrails, such as prompt filters that keep conversations appropriate.
The fresh funding will support the Android launch of Momo (the app is already live on iOS) and help the team refine Momo’s conversational intelligence and user interactions. Çopa envisions Momo and its community becoming a defining consumer brand that blends AI, animation, and gamification to improve millions of lives.
Dominic-Madori Davis, a longtime TechCrunch reporter specializing in venture capital and startups, covers this story from New York City. For outreach verification, contact Dominic at dominic.davis@techcrunch.com or via an encrypted Signal message at +1 646 831-7565.
Would you rather see AI companions focus strictly on practical habit support, or should they also emphasize social and emotional connections with more nuanced safeguards? Share your thoughts in the comments.
